Polarity
by GorgieD
Summary: The story of Kamon, a reluctant Pokemon trainer: set well over a century after Red takes on the Pokemon League, he'll receive some references, but in general, it's entirely Original Character based, in a new region, new towns, etcetera.
1. Chapter 1

"Happy birthday to you...

Happy birthday to you...

Happy birthday, dear Kamon..."

I sighed, and sunk lower into the table.

"Happy birthday..."

I closed my eyes, and made a wish.

"To you..."

_Kill me._

"Now blow out the candles, Kamon," Mom said, smiling that worn smile disappointed housewives wear. I blew them out. No use making her even more disappointed.

"Well? Did you make a wish?"

I forced a smile for her, but she knew it was fake.

"Yeah. Yeah, I did."

"Good." She hugged me, giving me a kiss on the cheek, and I instantly felt guilty for being so apathetic. If I wasn't happy, I didn't have to take her down with me.

I grabbed the knife and cut into the cake with gusto. Mom had outdone herself this time; if anything could drown my discontent, it was empty calories, and I wasn't about to say no to that. And what a discontent: my 16th birthday, and the only person to attend is my mom. My only friend is nowhere to be found, and dad is probably passed out in front of the television. Did he know it was his only child's 16th birthday? Probably not. Or maybe he did, and just couldn't work past that infectious apathy of his to do anything about it.

While I was bemoaning my lot and commencing with the discontent drowning, a pair of arms wrapped in a bright parka lunged before me, and hung tightly to my chest.

"Kamon! I'm so, so sorry I'm late for your party, I was-"

"That's fine, Annie. It's alright."

I turned around, and smiled at the source of my frustration, and my joy. The girl next door.

We had known each other all our lives, and she was my best friend- still would've been if I had any friends other than her. She's also been a longtime object of affection, ever since I realized my dick was good for more than one thing... though she never seemed to have an interest in being anything but friends, and I was too much of a coward to do anything about that. So friends we were.

Mom stepped forwards as I gazed at her, and did motherly things, like saying "Sit down Annie", and "Have some cake", and "So good to have you."

I was just about to grin and be happy, when my dad walked into the room. I almost felt special- he decided to shower for this occasion. Though he still didn't bother to shave his beard.

When he was about 19, Dad was studying at the university to be a lawyer. In some sort of geneology project, he finds out he's the great great great grandnephew twice removed or something like that of Red, so therefore he should drop everything and go try the Gym Leaders to become the Pokemon Champion. Anyone with half a brain would see exactly where this is going. Anyone with half a brain would be wrong- Dad was offered a perfectly fine Pidgeotto by his uncle, just as a starter, but no, Dad has to do things the hard way, so Dad treks out into the woods and with nothing but a pokeball and the clothes on his back, looking for the meanest, strongest pokemon he could find. With just a pokeball and nothing to whittle down the wild pokemon, anyone with half a brain would expect he'd be lucky to walk away with a caterpie, but once again anyone with half a brain would be wrong- it was sortof Dad's thing. Ater six days of roughing it, Dad comes out of the forest with pretty much the strongest, fastest scyther that ever lived. So, he heads off and trounces his first gym leader, gets his first badge, doesn't catch any new pokemon. Same for the second, same for the third, same for the fourth, still just toting around his one pokemon and beating tough trainers with 4, 5, even 6 pokemon.

Now dad gets to his 5th gym leader, and what do you know, it's a rock type gym leader. So, rather than doing what anyone with half a brain would do and catching maybe a water type pokemon- because obviously, Dad _doesn't _have half a brain- he decides to go off and train for 3 days. Meanwhile, he meets up with some young journalist girl and tells her his story. While he was lacking a good portion of his brain, Dad was apparently quite the charmer, and they spend the night together. Next day, Dad goes off to challenge the gym leader, and comes back with a shiny new badge. The journalist writes a report on him, and there we go- instant celebrity. His battle with the next gym leader was televised, even, and with each successive gym leader he grew more and more famous, that by the 8th the whole country was riding on his coattails.

He lost. To top it off, in the process of losing, his scyther lost most of its left blade; it would never be able to fight again. At least, not at the level it had before.

Dad gave up, went home, and 4 months later he had the decency to put a ring on the finger of the pregnant journalist he spent the night with before he earned his 5th badge.

Now he's always trying to get me to follow in his footsteps, succeed where he failed. I just want to be a journalist.

But here he's standing before me, holding a big white crate with airholes in it, and a big grin on his face.

_That'd better be a meowth._

I could see Annie bite her lip, as Mom walked into the next room. Dad had been haranguing me more and more on going for the Pokemon League Championships, and we'd practically come to blows over it. I resolved to leave the room if this were some halfassed scheme to give me some battling pokemon and somehow convince me to follow in his footsteps. He placed the crate on the table in front of me, and I opened it up, glaring. Inside were two eevee, as well as a glass case holding various evolutionary stones.

I stood up so fast the chair fell over behind me, and stormed out of the house.

Annie found me two minutes later, huddled under a tree. She always knew where to find me.

I looked up, studying her a moment. She wore bright clothing- pinks and oranges and yellows- but somehow, even with that, over a sylvan, freckled face, flushed and panting, she managed to look serene. In her arms she held the two eevee- I was annoyed at her for bringing them, but that was quickly subsumed by my gratefulness that someone had followed me. I didn't know what I was going to do out here if she hadn't.

Clutching the squirming pokemon to her chest, she motioned back with her head, smiling. "Come on. Let's go back to my house."

I paced around her room, fuming, while she sat on the ground and toyed with the eevee.

"Y'know, it pisses me off, all these jabs at me to go off for the championships. Really, what the hell am I supposed to do with these things?"

Annie laughed at the eevee's antics. "Well, they _are _cute."

She was certainly right about that. Both were probably very young; one was spritely and energetic, attacking the sleeve of Annie's parka, while the other lop-eared one was rolling around, clumsily chasing its own tail. Still, I was too pissed off to admit it, and I spoke up more bitterly than I should have. "Well, if you like them so much, you can have them."

She beamed at me, shrugging off my bitterness with her positive energy. "Why don't you take one, and I'll take the other? That way they'll be like sisters."

"Can you even tell what gender they are?" I smirked, and she rolled her eyes, ignoring my comment.

"Come on, you don't have to battle it or anything. Just don't throw it in a lake."

I sighed, collapsing onto the bed. "You know I wouldn't do that."

"I donno, you can be pretty stupid when you get all mad like you do."

I shot up immediately, glaring. "I do not!"

She laughed, speaking facetiously. "Support for my theory continues to accrue."

Grumbling and knowing she was right, I walked over, and picked up the dopey one. It looked at me, cocking its head, oblivious to my bitterness.  
"Fine, fine. You can have that one, and I'll take this one... and I promise you, I won't throw it in a lake."

After a few more hours of talking, I headed back to my house, where I found dear old dad perched firmly on the couch, next to his decaying scyther. Its head darted back as soon as I entered the room, looking at me, then slowly turned back to the TV. Its eyes were sharp, and strong... and dead. It was a beaten warrior: a ferocious, proud animal, brought to its last limb. Literally, in one way. This creature lived for battle- it was almost a pity, seeing it stagnate like that.

Dad looked back, slower, and spoke to contrast the scyther's unwillingness to do so. "Well, have you decided which... wait, what happened to the other one?"

He was referring to the eevee in my arms.

"I gave it to Annie."

That managed to prompt him to detach himself from the stained leather exterior: I felt almost proud for provoking such a feat.

"You _what_? Do you realize how expensive those things are? Besides, how are you going to take the Poemon League Championships with just one pokemon?"

I glared at him, raising an eyebrow and speaking ironically. "Gee, that didn't stop you, dad."

"Yeah, well, look where I am now- I'm not going to let the same thing happen to you, dammit. I want you to do this. For me."

He was trying to be nice now, but I still continued glaring, wracking my brains to think up a snappy retort.

"No."

_Oh, yeah, I'll bet he's reeling from that one._

Having nothing more to say, and not wanting to be in the same building as this guy, I turned on my heel and stalked out into the night air, hating him with all the hate a 16 year old can muster.


	2. Chapter 2

I jumped the fence into the forest where Annie found me before as she and I had been doing for the past 10 years. It was normally barred to all but trainers to enter, but it was a frivolous rule: sure, we'd both suffered our share of beedrill stings over the years, but there was little there to prove a serious threat.

No matter how often we tread this manmade arcadia before, it was uncanny how different it seemed at night; as the moon winked at me before hiding above the canopy, I quickly lost my sense of direction in the dark. The winding trees turned me about, and I was quite hopelessly lost. Under normal circumstances, I wasn't one to be afraid of the dark, of course... but the blackness encroached about me, blots of void in my vision, and amplified the rustles of the wildlife.

_It's probably just butterfree..._

With bitter thanks, due to the poor visibility I tripped over a sapling and was able to redirect my fear into anger as I nursed my torn jeans and scraped knee. Looking about, I saw that I had stumbled into a clearing, where the moon was able to shine through a gap in the canopy. I'd also quite forgotten the eevee I had been carrying until it rubbed against my leg: it had managed to survive the fall with less injury than me, but seemed to be in worse shape. It tried to hide between my foot and the rock I was sitting on, and was trembling violently. I bent down to pick it up again, and it continued trembling, pawing at my coat in a frantic effort to get itself hidden.

"Geez, what's wrong with you?"

That's when I heard the snarling.

I looked up, and saw a mightyena stalking into the clearing. It was likely feral- emaciated, mangy, and lacking the rest of its pack. Either killed off by hunters... or separated for a different reason. I was thinking about what to do, standing still, when it leapt: despite being on the scrawny side, I was knocked flat on my back, and it instantly began attacking my sleeve: I guess I'm just lucky it's stupid, or else my arm would've been shattered. I groped about on the ground nearby for something- anything- to defend myself with, and grabbed a rock, slamming it against the side of its head, getting it right on the eye. Rather than the tumble I was expecting, it kept its hold on firm, barely flinching, and glaring at me with its one good eye, the other streaming blood. I quickly learned my lesson and hit it against the side of the jaw, on the teeth. It released its hold- just slightly- and I was able to extricate my arm and hurl it off me.

As soon as I got back up, it was ready for another go, leaping forwards, when the eevee leapt out and tackled into it mid-leap: they both ended up a crumpled heap before me, and while eevee was recovering, the mightyena bit down on it, lifting it into the air and flailing it about like a ragdoll. The eevee _screamed_, and was hurled into the trees beyond, and the mightyena turned back to me.

As it was approaching, there was a rustling from beyond, and the eevee- battered, bleeding, but still conscious- stumbled back into the clearing.

"Goddammit, you stupid thing, just get the hell out of here!" Damn thing had a death sentence.

It drew back the attention of the mightyena, who let out a low growl, rearing back to pounce... then it stopped moving, its ears perking up.

As the eevee stepped into the moonlight, it brightly reflected off its fur... then just got brighter, and brighter, until the eevee was visibly shedding off light. I winced as my eyes tried to adjust, blinded by its brightness... and when my vision cleared, it was gone. The mightyena looked as confused as me, as we both enacted a brief ceasefire, temporarily allied in our bewilderment. When I could see again, the eevee was primarily gone... but it had been replaced by a black silhouette, larger, slimmer, and a warmth grew in my chest. Pride, I suppose. I'd seen pokemon evolutions on TV, and felt that this night would end well. Diamond shaped outlines glowed on the silhouette's ears, and for the first time in my life, I was glad for my father's drilling me on verious pokemon breeds.

"Umbreon! Faint attack!"

The silhouette disappeared, and the mightyena backed away cautiously, when it appeared again, well out of his vision. The umbreon leapt at it, tackling him to the ground and promptly disappearing again, then tackling him and again, and again, and again, from all angles. By the end of it, the umbreon reappeared by my side, and the mightyena was fleeing, dripping blood in its wake from various wounds.

I collapsed to the ground, not realizing just how tired I was, when the umbreon nuzzled my hand.

"Ummm..."

I looked up at it. Its ear was still cocked, and it was looking up at me, head turned to the side in its dopey way. I sighed, and tentatively reached my hand forwards, patting its head.

"...Thanks. I suppose."

"Umbreon!"

The corner of my mouth turned ever so slightly upwards, and I took it in my arms, heading back home. It was a lot heavier than earlier.

Okay, so it took me around 4 hours of trudging through that forest to find my way, and by that time the umbreon was walking. I clomped into the house and up the stairs at about two oclock, exhausted and tired and the blood from my knee now well dry and flaking off in chunks. I quietly cleaned myself off, careful to make sure I didn't wake up my parents, and retired to my room. Staring myself in the mirror, despite the agony in my knee and soreness in my limbs, I felt, well... good. Accomplished. I'd actually done something today. I suppose not many can say they've successfully fought up a relatively powerful wild pokemon.

My reverie was interrupted when I noticed that there was a Pokemon Championships ad stuck into my closet door. I strode over to it, snatching it from the crevice with intent to defenestrate... but then I stopped. I looked it over.

"Come be the very best!", it said. Dad wanted me to be the very best. But what did I want? Until now, I just wanted the opposite of whatever Dad wanted... but that wasn't a good way of living a life.

Screw Dad. If he wants me to go for the Pokemon Championships, well, I don't care. But that's not going to stop me from doing anything. I'm going to take the damn championships, not because Dad wants me to, but because _I _want to.

_Mom_

_I'm taking my eevee and going for the Pokemon Championships. I took some food and money. I hope you don't mind._

_Also, don't tell Dad._

_-Kamon_

As I set out into the night, umbreon curled up snugly in my backpack, I wasn't sure whether I was being ironic with the last part or not.


	3. Chapter 3

Most when they set out on the road for the Pokemon Championships head down Route 423 to Sandberg Village, the location of what is to most their 1st gym leader. It'd take probably about a week of easy travel to get from my home to there on that route- waypoints every several miles, nice paved roads, the works. Hell, I might even be able to rent a bike... if I chose to go that way, of course. I didn't.  
My course of action was to cut across the Garin Desert: while Route 423 wound about, going through popular training areas and smaller towns, cutting through the Garin I could just make a straight line. It would be more uncomfortable, sure, but I certainly wasn't in the mood to spend a week of clomping along to get to my destination. This way, setting out just before dawn, I could probably make it by nightfall.  
Just a handful of hours into my journey, and I was already regretting it. My shoes were far too heavy for hot weather, I was burning like a match, and I neglected to bring along more than a waterbottle (which was quite drunk by this time). Beyond that, the fucking Umbreon was weighing me down, so it got to walk beside me. The poor thing didn't fare much better, dragging its heels, head low. It was almost sad, the sound of it simpering with each step, but I was more concerned with my own well being than its at that moment. The only reason I didn't turn back was pigheaded stubbornness.  
I reached Sandberg as the sun was peering over the horizon, and collapsed onto a park bench, falling asleep with Umbreon on my chest.  
I awoke in the early afternoon to suspicious glares, and quickly ushered myself off to the nearest pokemon center: there, a portly nurse lifelessly tended to Umbreon while I hit the showers for a few minutes and picked up some coffee. It was black, and had both the flavor and consistency of battery acid, which doubly served to help me perk up for the fight to come. The sun was bright in the sky, glaring down at me, and I glared back at it: it was a hot day, but it was a dry heat.  
The gym leader of Sandberg Village was Laura Tierra, whose skills were as fierce as the beating sun that tempered them, etc etc. It took me a few hours to find the actual gym, though, and for good reason- it was shockingly utilitarian, to the point that I passed by it multiple times before realizing it was actually the gym. The thing that finally caught my eye was the Pokemon Championships poster on the wall outside, the only adornment, which listed the large, white, square building as an official Pokemon League Gym Leader gym. I opened the door, and stepped inside... to a sterile waiting room.  
Glancing around, there was a table of magazines, a few cheap couches and chairs, and behind an enclosed counter a young, bored looking girl typing away at a computer. I stared around, confused, until she noticed me.  
"Name?"  
"Uhhhh... what?"  
"Your name. You're here to challenge Mrs. Tierra, yes?"  
I blushed from my stammering, but she didn't seem to mind, just staring at me expectantly.  
"Uh, yeah. Kamon. Kamon Nero."  
I cringed a moment, wondering if she'd recognize the name, but she just wrote it down on a clipboard. Of course she didn't... Dad was before her time, anyways. Still, it was a possibility- Dad's name was 73 on Pokemon Weekly's top 100 famous trainers, and one of just three on the list that never got all eight badges.  
Putting away the clipboard, she looked up back at me. "Go ahead and make yourself comfortable while the guy inside finishes, it should just be a moment longer."  
I looked at the door yearningly, just wanting to get in and get this over with. Thus far, the experience was far different than I had been expecting, and just sitting there did nothing for my nerves. I decided to still them with smalltalk.  
"Just how many challengers do you get a day, anyways?"  
She shrugged, opening up a magazine. "Depends, really. Sometimes we just get a few, but once in a while the waiting room's packed. Honestly, I don't know why so many people make Laura their first gym leader, I think we've had three actually beat her all week."  
...Still my nerves, eh?  
Thankfully, the battle inside didn't last much longer, and soon enough a boy my age walked out, clenching onto a pokeball, face set. He didn't even glance at me, just walked straight for the door and left. As soon as he left the building, the secretary looked up at me, smiling pleasantly. "Just go on in, she knows you're here."  
I sighed, muttered a thank you, and opened the door. 


	4. Chapter 4

For a moment, I was blinded by the light inside the gym main; while the waiting room was rather dimly lit, powerful halogen lamps lit up the stadium beyond. As my vision cleared, again I was met by primarily a sterile white room, but this time of significantly more impressive scale- the ceiling must've been 50 feet high, and the room was something just less than an acre in size. It was rectangular, divided in two by a sizable sand pit in the center adorned with boulders and the like, with an area on either side- one for the gym leader, and one for the challenger.  
Caught up in again the marked utilitarianness of the place, I spent some time gaping before I was interrupted by a throat being cleared. I hadn't noticed the woman across the room who I was to challenge, and again I met something I wasn't expecting. Sure, I'd seen Tierra's face in magazines and on the news before, but in person it was significantly less impressive. Most of the pictures one would see were of an ageless woman, tall, broad shouldered and proud, with a long mane of sandy brown hair and wearing of course only the most stylish of clothing (usually involving a tan coat and rugged cargo pants). However, the woman who regarded me across the pit was leaning into a metal chair, middle aged and with graying hair tied up into a bun. She looked at me, bored, eyes glazed over as she struck a match and lit up the cigarette in her mouth. Taking a drag, she made herself comfortable before speaking.  
"So, what'dyou got for me today, kid? How many ratatta did you snare for the challenge?"  
Her voice was hoarse, and sounded even more bored than she looked. I glanced down at Umbreon, who looked as dumbfounded as me.  
"Ummm... just the one, really."  
She raised an eyebrow, cigarette hanging out of the corner of her mouth. "You do realize that I am entitled to use at least two pokemon in this battle, and that your little pet there will have to pull twice its weight?"  
She shook her head, staring at me, as her voice oozed its condescension.  
No, I didn't know that. But I wasn't about to say it.  
"Listen, can we just battle and get this over with?"  
I glared at her, and she just laughed. The rasp to it made me cringe.  
"Yeah, yeah, alright. Listen, I'll just use one myself, how about that kid?"  
I glared even harder at her.  
"You don't need to handicap yourself on my account."  
"Oh, but you don't get it kid. I'm not handicapping myself at all."  
I glared even harder, so hard my face should've cracked.  
"Fine! Let's just do this already."  
An awkward silence ensued. Eventually, Tierra coughed.  
"You know, it's generally protocol for a trainer to send out their pokemon first."  
My face flushed red. I couldn't help it. After standing embarrassed a moment, I motioned for Umbreon to leap out into the battlefield- I didn't even speak, for if I did, I knew I would certainly deflate like a balloon. Thankfully, Umbreon got the picture and leapt forwards.  
Tierra nodded, sighed, and lazily grabbed a pokeball from the floor at her side. She tossed it into the center equally wordlessly- though more out of tedium, it seemed, than nervousness- and my worst fears were realized.  
The light that ensued from the pokeball was mastadonic, and the pokemon that sprung forth was at least a hundred times as large as my poor Umbreon, composed of various swiveling, spined boulders of very shiny, very hard looking metal.  
Tierra stifled a yawn.  
"Steelix. Tail whip."  
Before I could cry out, before I could make a counter- or just for god's sake get my pokemon out of there- the steelix flicked out its tail, tapping into Umbreon and sending it flying like a ragdoll, until it hit the wall with a sickening crunch. My vision went dark, and my knees weak. I stumbled to the side. This... was not anything like I predicted. A valiant battle, long, even, with an engaged opponent, with me and my Umbreon finally ending up the battered and worn victors...  
No.  
The world was a cruel, heartless place. This cold warehouse of a gym, that giant, powerful, indomitable steelix... the now vexed woman who was apparently talking at me.  
Tierra was standing now, on a good rant.  
"...You kids, you always come in here and waste my time with your delusions of grandeur. You think your little runts of pokemon can stand up to a Gym Leader? I've been fighting whelps like you all my life, and all that grinding and battling has made my pokemon as powerful and tough as they will ever be. I'm being considered for the Elite Four, you know that? And yet you brats, you miserable, pretentious asses waltz in here and think you're going to be great champions. Well, think again kid, it's been a long time since Red took on the Pokemon League and every champion since him only managed it though blood, sweat, tears, a little elbow grease and a lot of luck. Now take your rat and get out of here before you feel the same fate."  
I nodded, in a daze, and leapt into the sand pit to collect Umbreon, keeping a wide berth of the steelix as I did so. No problem, though, as it seemed to care about as much about me as Tierra. The only reason it might harm me is if it decided to lie down and I happened to be under it.  
Umbreon in arms- whimpering, bones likely shattered, but thank god still alive- I hurried out of the gym, on the verge of tears. 


	5. Chapter 5

The Garin desert loomed before me, its hot sands glaring, accusing.

Failure.

What would I tell my parents? I just unequivocally got my ass handed to me, sorry pops, I'm a loser, let's just forget this ever happened?

No, I'd have to think up some ugly lie. Maybe say I was staying with Annie the past few days- she'd back me up. And as for the Umbreon...

Ugh. I'd just have to think along the way. It's not like I didn't have plenty of time to do so. Bleakness in every direction (with the occasional shrub or rock or cactus) and one tended to let one's mind wander. Anything out of the ordinary was new and exciting: for example, this little ditch, sort of an inverse mound, burrowing down into a tiny hole... and it was moving. I walked over to it, scrutinizing. The hole was just sitting there... breathing. I stuck out my toe, poking at it.

Then it exploded.

Sand flew into the air, choking me and getting into my eyes, and there was a sharp pain in my leg. No, not pain- agony. Umbreon squealed and darted away, and the dust settled to reveal a huge trapinch biting my leg, gnawing on it. Blood streamed around it, caking with the sand over its chitinous exterior. Then it started swinging- slowly, languorously, it pulled back and turned its head to the side, sending me tumbling over it and onto the ground, stripping the flesh on my leg for the bone. Umbreon pawed at the ground a few metres away, tentative.

"FUCKING KILL THIS THING! Bite, faint attack, tackle, whatever!"

It was still gnawing at my leg, and every motion it made sent jolts of pain through my whole body. Umbreon ran up to it, slamming into its side and shifting it another metre, twisting my leg and sending out an even worse jolt of pain.

I stopped a moment to catch my breath. The trapinch seemed fine with just letting me bleed out- and with the amount of red all over, that looked like it wouldn't be a long time. I reached out to pry its mouth open, but it pivoted again, twisting around my leg and sending me to the ground once more, and again and again, flailing me back and forth. I grabbed my pack as a weapon, beating it with it, but that proved fruitless when it burst open, its contents spilling across the ground. That's when a ball of red and white caught my eye.

_A pokeball._

As the trapinch was readying for another hurl, I reached out and slammed the pokeball against its side- it burst open, there was a flash of light, and the trapinch was gone. The pokeball wiggled and it was caught. I had a quick breather and a moment to enjoy the victory before the adrenaline left my body, and I realized my situation at the same time the pain hit me.  
"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUCK!"  
I collapsed onto the ground, about ready to give into despair as my lifeblood just kept oozing out of my leg to water the desert sands. Miles away from civilization as the murkrow without a bum leg flies, and it didn't look like I had too much time before I bled out. No means of contacting civilization, and nobody would come across me out here... sure, it's not like the Garin desert was totally and utterly deserted, but it was so large and so blank that even if there were somebody going the same way as I we'd likely never cross paths. No... I'd just have to tough it out, as I was slowly getting more and more light-headed...  
Looking back up, the blood had formed a large pool around my leg, and it was still going. "Oh, god..." I didn't even know I had that much blood. I wondered how much was left inside of me. Through all this, I was strangely calm. Perhaps the bloodloss was making me more relaxed. Whatever it was, though, I slowly, methodically took my shirt off and tied a tourniquet above the wound, coolly weighing my odds. Well, I didn't know much about medicine or anatomy or anything like that... but it didn't look good. At least the blood stopped with the tourniquet. Mostly.  
"Ummmm?"  
Umbreon was pacing around the pool of blood, perturbed and worried but not wanting to touch it, as if it were hot lava. "It's okay... It's okay..."  
_Lies._  
I reached out to scratch it behind the ears, and laughed hysterically as I withdrew my hand to see its head smeared with my blood.

I hadn't tested my leg yet... maybe I'd be able to hobble back to Sandberg. Standing up, though, I instantly realized it was a bad idea as I went tumbling back to the ground, the flexing and movement loosening the tourniquet and starting the bloodflow anew.  
"Fuck!"  
"Ummmmm..."  
"Shut up! Just... just let me think..."  
Crawling it'd have to be. Crawling... such a distance...  
_The first step of a journey takes one just as far as the last step_. Resolving to this, I made on my way. Hours passed. A dozen, maybe. The sky went dark, and Sandberg was still nowhere in sight. And still I crawled on. Sometimes I stopped to rest. Maybe sleep. Perhaps I passed out sometimes. But as long as I had the energy, I'd be crawling.  
Umbreon was there every step of the way, silent and cheerless. It stopped when I did, and started going again when I did.  
The sun came up, but I hardly noticed. Just have to keep crawling... eventually I even stopped bothering to use my eyes, just slugging along slowly, inexorably, and hoping I was going in the right direction. More minutes passed, or hours, or days... and I heard voices. I think some of them were calling for help. With that, I decided it'd be a good time to pass out.


End file.
